Before you teach — read this first
Grade 1 · Lesson 23 — Interleave: Nouns + Pronouns
U1 · Level One — Parts of Speech · Nouns + Pronouns (—) · 10–15 minutes · 16 slides ·
Launch → I do → We do → You do → Closure
What this lesson is
An interleaved day mixing nouns + pronouns. The skill is not either of them — both are secure — it is working out which question is being asked before answering. That is invisible unless you name it, so the objective is stated to the children outright. The worked example is built on She was smart, like a tree is., ringing tree.
Why it matters — say this in your own words, about ten seconds.
“We learn the kinds of words so we can say exactly what we mean.”
A different reason every lesson, on purpose. It is not on a slide and it
is not a script — if you have a better reason today, use yours. What should land is the
idea, not a sentence they can recite.
Recall — sixty seconds, before anything new
Retrieve: Pronouns · Nouns. Ask for it before you introduce anything, take the answers from boards rather than from hands so you see all thirty, and do not re-teach — note who has lost it and carry on. This is the middle of the launch: context, then this, then why it matters. Only what today leans on — a minute spent retrieving something unrelated costs the same and buys nothing, and the child who cannot recall the prerequisite is the one you will lose in the I-do.
How it goes
- Ten seconds on why it matters — “We learn the kinds of words so we can say exactly what we mean.” Your words, not those; it is a different reason every lesson so what lands is the idea rather than a sentence they can recite.
- Then you do one yourself, on screen, one click per move: She was smart, like a tree is. · the question · ring tree · name it a noun. Do it exactly the way you want it done — this is the task they are about to do on their boards, not an easier one.
- You build the same thing on the board and leave it up for nouns, pronouns. The four steps are identical in every lesson of this unit — sentence, question, test, answer — so the children read the method rather than the layout, and today's board shows She was smart, like a tree is. still marked when they start work.
- The We-do runs 3 items on whiteboards — The two nations have a bilateral agreement.Can I put “the” in front of it?, It's too high to reach its perch.Whose place is it taking?, That is the way to the ruins.Whose place is it taking?. You are scanning for who applies the question and who is guessing from meaning; those look identical on a right answer and completely different on a wrong one.
- Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves — Sheet and pencil · Read the question above each one BEFORE you answer it · Find the noun or the pronoun. Then they work alone, with the same worked example printed at the head of their sheet.
- Close on That is the way to the ruins. — an item they have not met, so it measures rather than reminds — then the line they leave with: “A noun names something.”
- Watch for: Calls the word after “the” a noun when it is an adjective — “the red…” — The spot test is positional, and an adjective sits in the same slot. If you see it: “The red WHAT? It has not finished. Keep going to the naming word.” (Remedial sheet 07.)